was totheu.s. conferenceof mayors in 2008 and which he spoke of infrastructure improvement. look at the storm that hit the northeast. look how we could put those grid lines under ground. look at the jobs it would create. but look how it would really be improving our infrastructure in our decaying cities and some of the newer cities as well. i think the president is going to do that. i think more importantly, when you speak about this voting rights act, the president has a responsibility to, and i'm certain he will be certain to move on with the appointment and the nomination of these federal judges. >> michael, it seems the race for 2016 already under way. some have mentioned paul ryan as well. you have marco rubio heading to iowa next week. you also have the gop governors meeting in vegas next week. new jersey's chris christie expected to be there. who would you say is the current front-runner for the 2016 republican nomination? >> on the republican side, i think it's very convoluted. you know, it might be a jeb bush if he decides to assert himself and get into this. i think it'

will coincide to basically pushtheu.s. economyinto a recession unless congress does something about it. >> so remember that game on "the price is right" when the contestant had to avoid the guy going over the cliff, cue up the music, folks. going over the fiscal cliff means the end of the bush tax cuts. that would save $221 billion. but would raise most people's taxes by about 3500 bucks. reduces costs by $65 billion. general spending, including items on education and veterans benefits. a third cost redix, the payroll tax holiday expires. $95 billion saved there. and finally, emergency of employment benefits and health care and tax cuts, benefits saves the largest chunk there. that's $225 billion. if all of these cuts happen, the deficit improves by $607 billion. it would go down almost 40% but come at a hefty price. the economy would go over the fiscal cliff, sending the economy back into a recession. budget office projecting the unemployment rate could jump to 9.1% by the end of the year and that economic growth as well could shrink by half of a percent. i want to bring in bill schneider, c